Thursday, September 18, 2008

Divine Grace VS. Human Pride and An Answer to Phil Johnson's Question

I'm reluctantly breaking up the current series of posts on divine and human goodness with this one because it is current and relevant to the topic. Phil Johnsonhas been in Jacksonville this week, teaching at a conference hosted by Grace Community Church. Last night, I was privileged to hear him preach at another local fellowship, Changed By Grace Community Church. The sermon had some great insights for our present study on goodness. This is definitely worth hearing. Here is a link:

Phil is the Executive Director of John MacArthur's "Grace to You" broadcasts, and he is also the editing genius behind many of MacArthur's books. He has edited 50 of these books over the last 25 years! This has required him to go over MacArthur's sermons and writings continuously with an eye for the details of what is being said. In other words, Phil Johnson has been swimming in a sea of Mega-Gospel-Truth-Saturation for the last 25 years - and it comes out in his teaching! He also contributes to the Pyromaniacsblog.

I was able to speak with Phil for a few minutes after the service, and he asked me a provoking question about Theoparadox. In essence, he wanted to know if I believe Biblical paradoxes are actual contradictions or apparent contradictions. Is truth essentially contradictory, or is there a logical coherence to reality? This question is one I've been pondering for the last few weeks, and here's my best answer:

By definition, paradoxes are apparent logical contradictions. Some Biblical paradoxes can be solved quickly and easily by just about anyone who takes the time to think and pray over them. Others have been explored and argued for centuries and have never been fully explained. Many paradoxes fit somewhere inbetween. Ultimately, though, every paradox CAN be solved logically and coherently. I contend that paradoxes are designed to humble and amaze us, because God has not given fallen man the mental capacity to solve many of them. The Trinity and the two natures of Christ would be two examples of humanly unsolvable paradoxes. Our logical faculties are too limited to solve them, but God's mind is not limited. To the Infinite God, every paradox makes perfect logical sense and contains no contradiction whatsoever. We, as finite beings, are called to believe, practice and proclaim God's Word, not to unravel it. So truth is perfectly coherent to God, but it is apparently contradictory to us in some cases. Truth is infinitely logical, but we are limited to finite logic and therefore partially left in the dark.

I should add that God has given us clear light on everything we NEED to know. Sometimes it's blindingly clear! Now there's a paradox.

Part of my introduction to the idea of paradox came through John MacArthur. Several years ago I heard him on the radio doing a question and answer session. Someone pressed him on the issue of divine sovereignty, election, and human responsibility. MacArthur responded, (and I'm paraphrasing here), "It's a paradox. Christian theology is full of them. How can you explain the Trinity, or the two natures of Christ, or many other key doctrines, without understanding them as paradoxes?" That was a great answer, and it opened my mind in ways I never expected. The cracks it put in my cherished Arminian ideas ultimately contributed to the utter collapse of my man-centered theology. Thank God for His grace!

If anyone disagrees with me on the nature of truth being non-contradictory, please chime in. I'm open to reason (or should I say "un-reason" in this case?).

4 comments:

Great thoughts, Derek. The problem that I have found with the word "paradox" has been that it has a few definitions. In mathematics, a paradox is an illogical contradiction--- it is always wrong. Sometimes people use "paradox" in this way in other contexts as well. Then there is the other extreme, where people, especially the younger, post-modern generation uses the term "paradox" to mean something that cannot be known or understood.

Here's the definition that I use on my blog for the term "paradox"; the definition is from Webster's 1828 Dictionary: "A tenet or proposition contrary to received opinion, or seemingly absurd, yet true in fact." "Paradox", as I use it, is two opposite tenets held together in such harmony that it almost seems impossible. As you hinted towards, I don't think we truly can fully understand the "paradoxes" around us and in the Bible; but I DO think that we can understand paradoxes truly and in part. Christianity is full of paradoxes because God is a God of balance, he is both omnipotent and humble, just and merciful, loving and true. The Christian life is also full of paradoxes because it is a life lived in the footsteps of Christ; it is a life of balance.

I just discovered Theoparadox site today. I find your 1828 definition to be a good one. This leads me to a question I would like to pose both sites. Why does "Christianity" today for the majority sake find God's Sabbath of the 7th day Saturday to be a paradox, written with his own finger on tablets, which He never changed, not in any Bible I have ever read. "Christians" Worship on the LOrds Day, Sunday, or from the sun god, of past errors.

You ask an interesting question. I worship on Sunday because I believe the weight of the Biblical evidence leans that way. However, I can't say I've had all of my questions about the Sabbath answered and I can certainly sympathize with those who hold the conviction that Saturday is the right day to gather for worship. If godly people are gathering for worship at all, I figure I won't quibble over which day they choose.

If the day has indeed changed, I suppose it could be considered a paradox. I have more studying to do on this topic.

You've made the case better than I have. I should have let YOU respond to Phil Johnson in my stead. Indeed, the term "paradox" can carry some undesirable connotations, and your Webster definition provides good clarification. I have that old dictionary on my shelf as well. It's usually helpful beyond my expectations. Perhaps I need to put a worthy paradox definition in a conspicuous spot on my blog, just as you and Josiah have. Thanks for putting TheoParadox on your blog roll, that's a real honor. It's great to see the wisdom and God-centeredness on your site - I recommend it to others without hesitation.

Feel free to respond to anything written in the posts, or to the comments left by others. All comments are reviewed before they are published.

Please be charitable. If you disagree, do so with grace. Keep your words positive, focused, and on-topic. We don't expect everyone to agree, but we do expect everyone to treat everyone else with respect and grace, speaking the truth in love.

About the THEOparadox Team

Derek Ashton,Founder:I know enough about myself to be completely amazed that God loves me. His grace toward me has been abundant and overwhelming. I thank Him that I've been married to my beautiful bride since 1996. I have the privilege of raising two wonderful children who are gifts from God. (Read my testimony here).

Emeritus Team Members:Tony Hayling:Learn more about Tony at his site, Agonizomai.

THEOparadox MISSION Statement:

~To honor God by upholding the authority, inerrancy and sufficiency of His Word, the Bible.~To help students of the Word to interpret Biblical paradoxes in a way that faithfully reflects God's heart.~To ignite a devotional flame that will help believers to warm up their theology and burn up their pride.~To encourage Christian faith by resolving or explaining apparent contradictions in the Scriptures.~To explore the nature and extent of paradoxes in historically orthodox, Reformed, Biblical theology.

~To provide Biblical resources for those who desire to know God and His Word better.

~To glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, the Friend of sinners and the Savior of the lost.

Feature Series

Theology Meets Geometry

Rules

Feel free to respond to anything written in the posts, or to the comments left by others.

Please be charitable. If you disagree, do so with grace. Keep your words positive, focused, and on-topic. We don't expect everyone to agree, but we do expect everyone to treat everyone else with respect and grace, speaking the truth in love.

Thanks!Mgmt.

Followers

"Heresy is born whenever the Church fails to pray a tension."

"Hyper-Calvinism and Arminianism both result from the same problem: A tension-deficient disorder."

"Human beings are incredibly good over-compensators."

What is a PARADOX?

A tenet or proposition contrary to received opinion, or seemingly absurd, yet true in fact.

Noah Webster, American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828 Edition

"... it is synonymous with apparent contradiction. A 'paradox' thus amounts to a set of claims which taken in conjunction appear to be logically inconsistent. Note that according to this definition, paradoxicality does not entail logical inconsistency per se, but merely the appearance of logical inconsistency."

James Anderson, Paradox in Christian Theology

Wise Words ...

"The juxtaposition of words and ideas that don't usually go together make the real point stand out for us more clearly. And some truths in the Christian life are best expressed as oxymorons - paradoxical language."

~Phil Johnson

Wise Words . . .

"By advocating paradox I don't want to give the impression that I'm giving a carte blanche to not think philosophically, to not think deeply, about these doctrines. Quite the opposite. . . . My position is that with each of these doctrines we reflect on them as hard as we can, we penetrate them as best we can based on the Scriptural data that we do have, but we also recognize that there are going to be limits, and that those limits are actually a positive thing and not a reflection of some inherent problem in the doctrines or in the process of theological reflection. . . . I think we can make progress, we can make

considerable progress, in understanding these doctrines and resolving some of the . . . initial difficulties that we have with them, but at the same time recognizing that we're always only going to get so far and when we bump up against the limits of our capacity to formulate them in certain ways or to resolve certain difficulties in them, we

shouldn't be too concerned about that. We certainly shouldn't say, 'Okay, we need to admit that Christians are ultimately irrationalists.' No. We don't need to say that at all. . . . It's a Biblically constrained rationality. It's a middle way between rationalism, of which I think [Gordon H.] Clark was a representative, and irrationalism, of which, to take an example I think the Neo-Orthodox - Karl Barth - would be an example, where you're saying that there are actual contradictions in there. So I think it's navigating a Biblical middle way between these two extremes: having too high a view of the human intellect, and perhaps too low a view of the intellect, of our ability to know the things

of God."

~Dr. James Anderson

Subscribe To THEOparadox

The Gospel

God lovingly sacrificed His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, for a depraved and law-breaking humanity's only way to be saved from His just wrath, and through His death and resurrection graciously sanctified and secured forever all those who believe on Him - for their ultimate good and His eternal glory.

The following quotation was found in a recent post on a popular Arminian blog . It is by James Arminius, the founder of Arminianism, and pur...

Theological Paradoxes

Below I have listed some of the classic theological paradoxes (and a few interesting ironies, too) . . .

~The Trinity- God is One being revealed in three distinct persons (Father, Son, Holy Spirit)~God is transcendent(separate from His creation) yet immanent(in His creation)~Omnipresence- God is always present everywhere, yet He sometimes speaks of Himself as "present" in a special way~The Incarnation- God became a man~The Virgin Birth - A Jewish virgin gave birth to the Son of God~The Two Natures of Christ - Jesus is fully (100%) God and fully (100%) man

~The Atonement is sufficient to save every person, but efficient only for those who believe~God is completely sovereign (in control of everything, everywhere, all the time) yet He is not the author of sin and he uses human choice to accomplish His purposes~Inspiration of Scripture - The Bible was written by sinful human beings yet it is the inerrant and flawless Word of God~Divine Revelation - Sinful man cannot comprehend God, yet God reveals Himself to sinful man~Sanctification- Christians are sinners by nature, but saints by grace~Suffering- God brings His joy and comfort into our lives through our experiences of pain, disappointment and suffering

There are many others. Paradox is everywhere when we attempt to understand God's ways in a genuinely Biblical way.

Thank You for Visiting Theoparadox

The Apostles' Creed

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord

Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit,Born of the virgin Mary,Suffered under Pontius Pilate,Was Crucified, dead and buried

He descended into Hades;The third day He rose again from the dead;He ascended into heaven,and sits on the right hand of God the Father Almighty

From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.I believe in the Holy Spirit,The holy catholic (i.e., universal) Church,The communion of saints;the forgiveness of sins;the resurrection of the body;and the life everlasting. Amen